Healthcare Leader to Pet Care ADA-accessible Innovator

Amy Leiker is a Kansas City-based entrepreneur who has transitioned from a distinguished 25-
year career in healthcare leadership to becoming a trailblazer in pet care innovation. As the
Founder and CEO of LoftyLoo, Amy has combined her expertise in marketing and strategy with
her passion for animal welfare to create groundbreaking solutions that improve the lives of both
pets and their owners.
LoftyLoo is the first-ever ADA-accessible litter box, revolutionizing cat care for individuals with
chronic pain, disabilities, or mobility challenges. Recognized as the Best Cat Litter Box of 2024,
LoftyLoo sets a new standard for accessibility and convenience in pet care. This elevated litter
box furniture is designed with both functionality and aesthetics in mind, offering a safe and
stylish solution for cat owners.
Drawing on her extensive healthcare background, Amy's work is driven by a deep commitment
to making everyday tasks easier for people with unique needs. LoftyLoo reflects her belief in
purpose- driven innovation, addressing real-world challenges with empathy and expertise.
Amy continues to make a significant impact, bridging her healthcare experience with her
entrepreneurial spirit to support people and their pets in Kansas City and beyond.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hi, this is Pamela Wirth with the Hello Health podcast, and today I have Amy Liker. She is a healthcare leader to Pet Care ADA Accessible Innovator, and her company is called Loftilu. It's the first ever ADA accessible litter box revolutionizing cat care for individuals with chronic pain, disabilities, or mobility challenges. So welcome, Amy. It's so good to have you on. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to talk to you today. So this is actually, I don't know that we so pets are a very integral part of my life and so many others, right? They make us feel good. Um they they love us unconditionally. And um when my son was sick, one of the things they told us was to go get a dog so that he had something to go focus on and take care of. Um, and I don't know that we've ever really spent enough time talking about the fact that uh, and that's not it's it's not fair, but but we really do need to talk about it more. The people that really do need these pets, but they need additional support. And you've created this incredible solution to help both. So tell us a little bit about Lofty Lou.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Well, I couldn't agree more. Our animals are our family, right? They are therapy, they are our best friend, they are loyal companions. I know I have three kids, and my pets are on my screensaver on my phone. So I get it. And once we start talking about our pets, it sometimes seems like we can't stop, right? Um, we we love them so much. And honestly, I feel like the older I get, the more that I gravitate towards my furry uh animals, even more than people sometimes. But I invented Lofty Lou to take care of the people that take care of cats. Because a lot of times, as you know, as caregivers, pet lovers, parents, moms, daughters, siblings, wives, we you know, we take care of the other people. And we so often forget about ourselves. And, you know, when life hits, accidents hit, um, mobility, chronic pain, and we we talk about litter boxes, and they sit on the floor. And how are we to take care of our pets if we can't take care of ourselves first? So Loftie Loo is the first ever raised, elevated cat litter changing station that enables owners to safely sit or stand to scoop the litter box. So it's good for cats, it's good for dogs. It keeps them out of the litter, right? Yeah. And then it mostly it's important for us and our own well-being.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

So, how does it work exactly? How does the animal get up or how does it come down?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Or so it's super intuitive for the cats. Cats love to be up high, they feel safer, elevated, away from small uh children, away from dogs, other animals, and even the cat litter box battle amongst other cats. Lofty Lou is really simple. It's a raised, elevated cabinet that takes your existing or standard litter pan that would typically sit on the floor, and it raises it up about two feet, about knee high, a little maybe thigh high, so that the cat simply jumps up or hops up on the perch, which the perch is 18 inches from the floor. So it's no problem for cats at all, but it makes our lives so much easier.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

And what inspired you to go and do this?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So my aunt, who also suffers with chronic pain, uh, had a neighbor and he was hospitalized during COVID. And he had a precious kitty. He had retired into his, you know, dream retirement home in Florida with just he and his cat. And then when COVID hit, he got sick and was in the hospital. And my aunt was asked to take care of his cat while he was, you know, being taken care of in the hospital. And she quickly realized that the cat's litter box was a total disarray. It hadn't been changed. The cat was not happy, obviously, going to the bathroom everywhere but the litter box. And the owner of the cat was a loving man. He was a beautiful soul and still is to this day, but he had fallen on hard times and was sick and was too proud to ask for help. He physically could not bend down to the ground to change the cat litter box. And so my aunt called me. And I think I'm a pretty savvy online shopper. And so I was looking online, trying to find something to simply lift the litter pan up and off the floor. So when he came home from the hospital, either in his wheelchair or a walker and needing assistance to help take care of his cat, he would have something. And believe it or not, it didn't exist. I couldn't believe it. And it was with that passion and that determination that, you know, started out of a basic need and necessity for this man to take care of his cat independently, which is so important, and to be able to keep his cat that Lofty Lee was born and created. That's awesome. Now, how how long has it been for you? Oh gosh, it's it's taken me a lot longer than I thought. You know, it's a simple two by two cabinet. And I thought this can't be that difficult, but boy, was I in for a big surprise. It's it's been in development for about three years, actually since COVID. So by the time I, you know, had it in my brain and then put it on paper and then you know, tested it, mass-produced it, and now I'm selling um all across the country. Um, it's it's it's been a journey. And anyone that's at a startup knows the grit and the grind that it takes. But yeah, it's been a few years, probably even more.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

And then are you both um direct as well as uh in in retail? Or um tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

So right now you can purchase Lofty Lou at lofty lu.com, which is my website. It's the fastest, quickest, easiest way to buy LoftyLoo. We're also on Amazon.com, which is obviously a very trusted source. Uh, retailers are calling. So I've been in talks with Chewy, Petco, even Walmart. I'm super small and you know, I don't know what I don't know yet. And so even Shark Tank has called. There's a lot of momentum and excitement around bringing accessibility to the pet industry, which has been so long overlooked for so long. And I'm excited to lead that charge. But for right now, it's about building a solid foundation, it's about customer service, it's about making sure that the product is doing its job and working. Um, because Lofty Blue is so much more than a litter box, right? So for me, it's purpose-driven work. And I would like to see this grow organically through purpose and mission versus, you know, as a commodity, and it's just everywhere. And maybe one day that will be the case. But for right now, there's two places to buy it on Amazon and at my website, loftilu.com.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

That's super. Where do you go from here? Obviously, you want to get foundationally strong in your core, but what other areas do you see that or have have people reached out to you and said, hey, I really, really need you or would love for you to create this?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Oh gosh, that's a million-dollar question. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm gonna be doing, you know, later today or tomorrow. I definitely have a passion for helping people. I have a passion for helping the underdog. It saddens me that so many pets are surrendered due to chronic pain and mobility, you know, accessibility, just the basic things that we sometimes take completely for granted. I never knew in a million years how many cats, and I don't have that number statistically, but it's thousands of cats that are relinquished or taken away from the home simply due for the inability for people to care for their cats because they physically can't bend down to the ground. They've got arthritis and joint pain, back pain, a car accident. Things happen in our life that we're not always prepared for. And without this gentleman in our life that was hospitalized, I would have never known that was a need. And so who knows what the next step is for me? But right now, I'm really committed to bringing and leading the charge for accessibility in our pets.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Is there anyone that you're really hoping to connect with or need help from, or what would help you the most in sort of serving this mission?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Gosh, people like you, right? It's just everyday people with a passion to help. You know, I'm a small startup, so certainly, yes, being on Shark Tank or having an investor. But the purpose and the mission behind Lofty Lou sometimes cause me to pause a little bit in regards to um how I want to grow the company, because it is, it's it's so much more than a litter box. For me, I would love for Lofty Lou to be in every medical supply store across the country. I think every orthopedic surgeon, every oncologist, um, every primary care doctor, every nursing home, retirement centers. This is this is a tool. As you said, it is a medical tool for independency. I have a client, a customer who's 94 years old and couldn't change her litter box by herself anymore. And it was just her and her cat. And so her two daughters would have to alternate and come over every other day to take care of the litter box. And now with Lofty Lou, her name is Diane, and Diane can now do it all by herself. And I quote her a lot because it's so it resonates so much with me and makes my heart, you know, smile that even when you're old, you like to do things yourself. And when people start losing their independency or can't drive or can't live by themselves anymore, they can still have their cat, right? And so, how can we keep our cats and our pets with their with their owners, with their loved ones? It's it's better than an antibiotic to me. So um just, you know, people helping spread the word and knowing that there is now finally a solution that raises the litter box that cats prefer. It makes them feel, you know, more secure and and less vulnerable when doing their most vulnerable business.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah, that's true. So, your background, you also were in healthcare leadership. Tell us a little bit about what kind of prepared you and gave you this foundation to help you create this.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

So, my background, like you said, has always been on the business side of marketing. And I worked for uh lots of healthcare systems across the country. I'm based in Kansas City. And my job, you know, at wearing that hat were to build physician practices, surgery centers, to bring patients to the right doctor at the right time. And so, you know, on the back end, I've dealt with a lot of patients and heard their frustrations with the healthcare system. I've worked with doctors and understand their frustrations and how to bridge that gap in patient care, how to bring new technology, how to scale businesses. And so, you know, sometimes I feel like the, you know, the girl that walks away from the big corporate job and the big corporate paycheck to now develop a cat litter box. It's like have I lost my mind? Um, but really it's it, I feel like everything that I've done up until this point has really prepared me to bring a product to the market. I'm not typically a product developer. Lofty Lou is the first product that I've invented. Um, I'm proud to say that it's fully patented. And um, you know, it's all about helping, helping people, helping people find better solutions and live half healthier and happier lives.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

That's really cool. What kind of advice do you have for people that are looking to potentially make a change from either their day-to-day or do a supplemental startup on the side?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I I really think it's all about your passion. And if you really believe in something, having a startup, starting your own business, having an idea and bringing it to life is really, really hard. And so, unless you really believe in it, with everything that you have, because you're gonna face a lot of challenges, a lot of no's, a lot of financial hiccups. Um, for me, I went all in, meaning I pulled out all of my retirement. Um, I am full, fully committed to making Lofty Lou a success. And knowing that I'm changing people's lives means the world to me. So if if you've got an idea or you've got a product or you're working as a startup, you've got to believe in it and you've got to have grit and determination. And don't take no for an answer, right? At the same time, the product's got to make sense, right? So for me, there was no product like it. There's there's nothing like it on the market, right? There's a lot of cat litter boxes, there's a lot of automated and computerized and robots and sifters, but there's nothing that really takes care of the people. And so if you can find a niche, that's even better. Um, but there's so many ideas out there and so many unmet needs that um if you've got the right, you know, you've got the right tools and you got the right resources and and you really believe in the product, keep going.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Yeah, and you know, it and another very big obstacle is finding the right resources, both for Amazon as where, well, is for the website and marketing. Um, how have you best found those individuals? It has it been word of mouth? Was it a certain place you went to? Um are you doing like an agency? Did you find, you know, that you're because of your background, you're able to interview and manage, you know, um contractors yourself. What's kind of been your your success?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yes. You know, it's it really is like a hundred percent one-woman show. Like what you see behind behind the scenes of Lofty Lou is all me, a hundred percent me. And like I said, my my corporate job in the past had prepared me, right? So I'm a strategist by nature, I'm a go-getter by nature. Um, startup kind of mentality runs through my veins, whether it's I'm working for a big corporation or myself. I've treated every business and every financial decision as if it were my own, even if it wasn't my own business. So I think that got me a really good start. Um in addition, I think it's people like you, and I know I've said this before. It's just those everyday conversations, the introductions of you maybe introducing me to somebody else, and then that person introducing me to somebody else. It's also a little like uh like a private eye investigative, like who is in the know? Who do I admire? Who do I respect? How can I reach out to that person? Everything that I've done has been very grassroots. There's not a book on how to invent a raised cat letter box, who to call, what to do, pricing, um, website development, sales, PR, or how to even get on podcasts. So it's all just been trial and error, but I try to align myself with people that are smarter than me, people that know more than I do, and how to build those trusting, working relationships with people that help kind of push the needle a little bit more forward.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, it really is important to be able to ask for help.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Oh my gosh. I so many ways and so many areas of my life. And again, just with maturity and the older I get, I realize like I don't know what I don't know, and I don't have the money to make expensive mistakes. And so just relying on those people that have already laid the path before us um is so helpful. And the pet industry in itself has been very welcoming. Retailers have been very, very welcoming. Um, just learning how to kind of tread through the waters without drowning. You know, that's my mission right now.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Love it. Anything else that you want to share or ask or add or anything that is kind of front of mind for you?

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I I would just ask that, you know, know that Lofty Lou is available, that there are resources available. If you are suffering with chronic pain, hip pain, joint pain, it doesn't make sense to bend down to the litter box, right? If you know somebody who is in chronic pain, just please recognize that there's a resource out there for cat lovers. You may know a cat owner who is struggling with chronic pain or twisted an ankle as a weekend warrior, and you know they have a cat, but you all always don't always think, how the heck do they bend down to the ground? Like it, it just doesn't make sense. It's back breaking. The automated litter boxes are never really self-cleaning. And so, you know, if you're looking for a gift or looking to help somebody, just know that Lofty Lou is so much more than a litter box, and it will really change someone's life. I I can't tell you how many people that I have that say, I it's not a want, it's a need. I I can't, I'm physically aching to bend over to take care of my cat. And I know your audience is very health conscious, um, smart, savvy shoppers into you know the entire whole body wellness. And believe it or not, a litter box does fit into this conversation. So that would be really helpful.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

That's fantastic. Thank you so much, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Thank you so much. Such a joy to to meet you and to talk with you and to share my lofty loose story. Thank you.